So, back when MangaGamer was first announced, they mentioned a couple of big titles– Da Capo and Suika –which are both Circus titles.

So I figured since Circus is having a panel at Expo, and it’s right after the Juné/801 Media panel and in the same room, I’d sit in on it and see if they had anything interesting to say. So, here I am! We’ll see what happens in a room that appears to be me and…well, at least two other females; another journalist plus Shizuki from Broccoli (translating, not doing anything for BroBooks) and a whole bunch of dudes. (Actually I’m lying, there are a handful of women spread about…but I think there were more dudes in the yaoi panel previously than there are girls in this panel so far, interestingly).

So the panelist iiiiis: Tororo, the “Steve Jobs” of the eroge industry. Circus is a company that creates moe games like D.C. Da Capo, Suika, and even a My-HiME game. To those of us who didn’t attend the panel last year, not only do they do video games for Japan but they’re also looking at doing different things in the U.S. and worldwide.

Here’s news: they’re going to start making otome games (games for women featuring bishounen). Sweet!

Next panelist: Kayurayuka, manga artist and illustrator, who was in charge of the art of Da Capo 2. She’s also super cute. Currently she’s drawing a Suika manga as well.

Oh god, Miru– of Cy-Rim rev. –is adooooorable! She does music along with MASA, the guitarist of Cy-Rim rev., for the games. MASA is also pretty badass looking. (Miru does vocals/lyric-writing, MASA does guitar/composing). They’re really enjoying their glowsticks…blue! Apparently in Japan, glowsticks are “cy-rim,” hence the name. And everyone knows that meaning, and apparently they’re very popular at live events in Akihabara, not unlike concerts here. You can get more on them at their website, btw, right here.

MASA is from Ueno, Tokyo, and he says he met Miru when he was walking down the street with bread in his mouth, at a crosswalk where Miru was running, and they bumped into each other and he dropped is bread. MASA is so moe! At that same moment, Tororo walked by and picked up the bread and asked: “is it the golden bread, silver bread, or regular bread that you dropped?” And that’s how Cy-Rim rev. was created. Yeah, I have noooo clue.

How many of us have bought Cy-Rim rev.’s CD? Blank response, but Miru says their first album was released on May 30th and it’s available here at Anime Expo…but they didn’t say what booth! I don’t know if Circus has one, I’ll have to check. They had a mini-stage concert and they’re selling VCDs at the Broccoli booth, and they’re having another mini-stage concert on…I think she said Sunday. Looks like a few people here were at the mini-stage earlier.

And the last guest is Aina Kase, also adorable, and also a singer. She speaks a little bit of English (so CUTE!) And then runs back into Japanese. She’s like a kouhai (underclassman) of Cy-Rim rev. She came to the U.S. because of the video game being released on July 25th, and she sings the theme song for the game. Trying to find the title now, it’s long…anyway, Kase arrived on July 1st and she’s been to Hollywood, Santa Monica, and also a strip club yesterday. Cue the applause.

She’s got a mini-concert on Sunday and she wants to learn as much as she can about America while she’s here. Awwww! Before her debut she attended the Dwango school under the seiyuu/talento division. A bit about the game, Soramitsu, which is by Lacryma, a collaborative brand between Broccoli and Circus (oh, I stand corrected about Shizuki’s involvement). The genre for this game is “love flight adventure.” I’m in. It’s about spending your school life with a girl…and figuring out how to fly. Or something.

Here’s the “big news”: two Circus games are now available in English, and these are the MangaGamer ones I talked about earlier– MangaGamer is actually based in Europe and they’ve already released D.C. Da Capo in English. Americans translated it, and it’s fully downloadable. Suika is also a pending release for the site.

Now moving into Q&A…and if Tororo likes his question you get a promo card for Da Capo, very rare even in Japan. Sweet. I got nothin’ to ask really…

How do they feel about finally breaking the wall and getting a moe title out in the US (as opposed to just eroge– Da Capo isn’t hardcore, IIRC)? When Tororo came three years ago not many people understood the concept of “moe,” but now if you say “moe” more people actually know what it means and really understand it. To say what moe is about is to feel very “kyun-kyun.” (I think that’s like lovey-dovey and protective but I’m not sure.)

Now that Da Capo is localized, how about DC2 or the 16 different versions of the series already out in Japan? They probably won’t be doing ALL of the different versions, but probably the next one will be D.C.P.C. or Da Capo 2. It’d be nice if they could release both the JP and English versions simultaneously someday, Tororo says.

We get one more question…that trailer was LONG! Why did they chose to do a download service for a localization, considering that most of the people familiar with Circus games probably became so via downloading illicitly? Why not offer special bonuses to give people a reason to buy rather than download? Tough question to end on!

It’s very difficult to create packaged merchandise and ship it out (implied: especially to another country!). And even if we make packaged products, there’ll still be downloads, and then they have leftover inventory, and everything comes back to the company and stockpiles in the office. Then it becomes harder to make new games. So they wanted to do a download service to see how many people would actually buy it, and then they might create packaged products for certain regions.

They’re very open to suggestions, so let Circus know what you want: packaged products, dakimakura, etc.

Looks like that’s the end. I’m going to get up the Fukunaga interview sometime tonight, and that’ll be the end of my Friday. Whew!